Improving Women’s Health Program Conclusion
Large scale public health education in Same District Tanzania 2012-2025
In 2012, local officials worked with Empower Tanzania to select and train thirty-three women to serve as Community Health Educators (CHEs) to empower rural community members through education about common diseases, disease prevention practices, family planning, and other ways to maintain health.
The CHEs then conducted public meetings in their communities on 26 public health topics using videos produced by volunteer US doctors working with Empower Tanzania. They also provided demonstrations of techniques, and coordinated with the local health department, all with the goal to reduce community illnesses and mortality from diseases such as malaria, parasites, malnutrition, HIV/AIDS, and teenage pregnancy.
Over 2.2 million people have attended 41,000+ presentations given by the CHEs during the period of operation. Topics range from safe water, nutrition, and perinatal care to gender-based violence, contraception, and HIV/AIDS.
The program was concluded in April 2025 and has had impressive impacts on the 300,000 people in this community. Research demonstrating that the program improved community health knowledge was published in the Global Journal of Health Education and Promotion in 2018 and additional research is currently being conducted to document how this program has reduced teenage pregnancy, maternal and infant mortality, gender-based violence, and diseases including as malaria, HIV and cholera.
